Many consumers may find it difficult to receive credit products, such as traditional credit cards. For example, consumers without a bank account, consumers with few assets, and/or consumers without an established credit history may be unable to open a traditional credit card account. One reason for this difficulty is that traditional credit products are often offered to consumers based on their credit history or credit “score.” As a result, consumers who do not have a credit history (or who have a low credit score) are often not served, or are under-served, with respect to credit products. For example, a consumer with a low credit score may be unable to open a traditional credit card account.
In some cases, these consumers are provided with access to other types financial services, such as pre-paid transaction cards. The use of such services, however, is not typically reflected in the consumer's credit score. Therefore, using a pre-paid transaction card will not provide an opportunity for the consumer to eventually migrate to credit products. Moreover, a consumer may be unaware of other, intermediate types of credit products that may be available and/or not realize how the use of such products might eventually allow him or her to obtain a traditional credit card account.
It would be desirable to provide systems and methods that would let responsible consumers eventually receive credit products. It would be particularly advantageous if such a system operated in a timely and reliable fashion.